Power elite

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A power elite, in political and sociological theory, is a small group of people who control a disproportionate amount of wealth, privilege, and access to decision-making of global consequence. The term was coined by Charles Wright Mills in his 1956 book, The Power Elite, which describes the relationship between individuals at the pinnacles of political, military, and economic institutions, noting that these people share a common world view.

The power elite is described as consisting of members of the corporate community, academia, politicians, media editors, military service personnel, and high-profile journalists. Individuals identified as belonging to the power elite include David Rockefeller, Averell Harriman and Robert McNamara.^[1]

Social structure

The power elite are the leadership of the upper class, able to shape the economy through their simultaneous access to both state and corporate power.

Unlike the ruling class, a social formation based on heritage and social ties, the power elite is characterized by the organizational structure through which its wealth is acquired. According to Mills, the power elite is "the managerial reorganization of the propertied classes into the more or less unified stratum of the corporate rich."^[2] Domhoff further clarified the differences in the two terms: "The upper class as a whole does not do the ruling. Instead, class rule is manifested through the activities of a wide variety of organizations and institutions... Leaders within the upper class join with high-level employees in the organizations they control to make up what will be called the power elite."^[3]

In literature

The following authors have explored the power elite:

• Charles Wright Mills (The Power Elite and the State: How Policy is Made in America)
• G. William Domhoff (Who Rules America?)
• James Truslow Adams (The Epic of America)
• Noam Chomsky
• Carroll Quigley (The Anglo-American Establishment)

The Marxist theoretician Nikolai Bukharin anticipated the power elite theory in his 1929 work, Imperialism and World Economy:^[4] "present-day state power is nothing but an entrepreneurs' company of tremendous power, headed even by the same persons that occupy the leading positions in the banking and syndicate offices."^[5]

References

1. ^ Carson, Kevin. Austrian And Marxist Theories Of Monopoly-Capital.
2. ^ Mills, Charles W. Power Elite, p 147.
3. ^ Domhoff, William G, Who Rules America Now? (1997), p. 2.
4. ^ Carson.
5. ^ Bukharin, Nikolai. Imperialism and World Economy (1929)

See also

• New World Order (conspiracy)
• Ruling class
• The Establishment
• The Man

External links

• Charles Wright Mills on the Power Elite "The Higher Circles"
• A contemporary analysis of C. Wright Mills' Power Elite
• G. William Domhoff's online supplement to his book Who Rules America
• Domhoff interview - September 2004, Public Eye.Org - Domhoff on the American Ruling Class as opposed to conspiracy theories.
• NY Books G. William Domhoff: "IS THERE A RULING CLASS?" In response to What Rules America? (May 1, 1975)